F the UN

For once and at once

"How stupid can you be?"

That question echoed in my mind as I set out to work on this story.

For months, experts, activists, journalists, and think tanks have been sounding the alarm over Iraq's proposal to amend the Personal Status Law to lower the legal marriage age for girls. Aimed at young children, this law would legitimize the exploitation of minors, enabling men to treat women as disposable objects of pleasure.

I’ll let the Wilson Center explain the implications:

The proposed amendment to the Iraqi Personal Status Law includes a provision that legalizes marriages outside of the formal court system.

If passed, this law would put most, if not all, decision-making power over family matters in the hands of clerics, making family law arbitrary, regardless of human rights and its social repercussions.

Imagine the plight of a nine-year-old Iraqi girl forced into marriage with no proper education and completely dependent on her husband, who may one day throw her out of the house with no promise of alimony or financial assistance. Imagine an Iraqi woman that ends up at the doors of brothels to feed herself and her kids with no support from the state whatsoever. 

The best way to stop the current slide in women’s fundamental rights in the 21st century is the United Nations taking its job seriously and doing the job it was created it to do. It is written in the preamble of the UN charter.

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Thanks to the Big Five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)—the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, and Putin’s Russia—there is no way the United Nations will succeed in protecting generations from the scourge of war. Over the decades, it has been proven that the UNSC is a protection racket run by the Big Five to serve their own interests and shield their allies. It’s a place where they get together to eat cookies, have tea, and make announcements.

It is in the second purpose of the Preamble that the United Nations still has a chance to play a meaningful role. But instead of reaffirming faith in fundamental human rights, the United Nations under Secretary-General António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres has done the exact opposite. It has given fundamentalists around the world a license to turn women into modern-day slaves.

When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, they promised to respect women’s freedom. But they did the exact opposite. They didn’t announce a full reversal of rights in one go. Instead, they chipped away at them, one by one, over time. Today, women in Afghanistan can’t go to school or college. They can’t visit parks. Heck, they can’t even travel without a male escort. If that sounds like slavery, you’re not wrong.

This is what the Taliban have done. And yet, the geniuses at the United Nations invited these slave owners for talks in Doha in July this year. Not a single woman from Afghanistan was included in the talks. When pressed by activists worldwide, the UN responded, “This is not an inter-Afghan dialogue,” adding that they hope to “get to that someday, but we're not there yet."

Hope is exactly why the UN keeps failing in its mission. Their hope is precisely why fundamentalists in Iraq now believe they can outdo the slave masters in Afghanistan by turning women into objects to be used and discarded at will.

There are plenty of ways the United Nations can still act to stop this. The easiest and most effective option would be to rally global leaders to speak out against the Iraqi proposal.

Secretary-General António Guterres should ask US President Biden to publicly state that Iraq is on the wrong path. Then, he should visit Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and remind him, “Since we took a lot of heat helping you cover up the Covid mess, I’d like a favor—please ask Iraq to stop this proposal. Just one statement will do.” Next, he should mobilize EU leaders to make public announcements condemning the law.

If that’s not possible, the UN can push for statements from as many countries’ state departments as possible. It can work with the media to amplify this issue. It can urge global institutions like the IMF, UNICEF, and the Human Rights Council (HRC) to make strong announcements. Escalate the pressure, month after month. Keep the media spotlight firmly fixed on this issue. Identify the individuals driving this law, invite them to the UN, and demand that they publicly explain their actions. Then have UN officials counter their arguments in real-time.

Do whatever it takes to stop this.

That is how you protect fundamental human rights. It doesn’t matter if Secretary-General António Guterres tries everything and fails. What matters is that he isn’t failing because he tried—he’s failing because he isn’t trying.

This issue has been left largely to experts, activists, and parts of the media. They are the ones applying pressure on the Iraqi government to stop this madness.

Get your act together, UN. Get your act together.

If this law passes, Secretary-General António Guterres must take moral responsibility and resign.